INTERNATIONAL NEWS in brief

Man convicted of arranging phony marriages

LOS ANGELES (AP):

A Los Angeles man has been found guilty of arranging phony marriages for Nigerians in order for them to become permanent United States (US) residents. The US attorney's office says 46-year-old Alake Ilegbameh (ah-LAH'-kay ill-egg-BAHM'-ay) was convicted Wednesday of six counts of conspiracy to violate immigration laws. He faces up to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors say Ilegbameh recruited six American citizens to marry African immigrants for pay, typically $1,000 or more, then counselled the couples to open joint bank accounts and take other steps to make the marriages appear genuine.

Maoist party leader alleges vote-counting irregularities

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP):

The leader of Nepal's Maoist party, who appears to have lost in this week's national election, demanded yesterday that the vote counting be stopped because of what he called massive irregularities.

The irregularities occurred during transporting of ballot boxes and also during the counting, said Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leader of the United Communist Party of Nepal Maoists. "We are demanding an immediate stop to the vote counting and an independent probe into the allegations," Dahal said, adding his party could boycott the Constituent Assembly if its demands are not addressed.

Indonesia nearly triples lawmaker's graft sentence

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP):

Indonesia's highest court heightened yesterday, nearly tripled to 12 years the sentence of a former ruling party lawmaker convicted of accepting $3.6 million in kickbacks from a construction project.

An anti-corruption court in January had sentenced Angelina Sondakh of the Democratic Party to four and a half years in jail. The case involved construction of a housing complex for athletes at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games. A high court upheld the sentence, but state prosecutors who sought a 12-year sentence appealed to the Supreme Court.